Well, judging by the rather dated special effects on the home page, we must be approaching that time of year, where comics used to have snow-topped titles and holly sprigs on the corners of the page. Every story had a Christmas theme to it and turkey, stuffing and mince pies were enjoyed by all. Ahhhh, happy days.

As for me, I'm still keeping to my promise to add bits to the site once a week (no matter how small) and this week I've uploaded another 20 annual covers and the front covers of Marty No.1, Junior Express No.1 and Fun To Know No.1.

This little missive is just to let you know that I still love the site and wished I could dedicate more time and effort to it. Mind you, some good news for the future of Comics UK did occur this past week. I have now been given the facility to use SQL databases for the site. This will mean that access to everything within the site will be much faster and much better controlled. During the past couple of years I've become pretty conversant with SQL, so Comics UK will reap the benefits of that knowledge.

I know that I keep saying it, but I really have got some wonderful plans for Comics UK and now I will have the added bonus on bringing my son on board in the design side of things (he drew the Christmas Bunter a couple of years ago). He's not into comics, like his dad and he's not into football, like his dad (I'm sure he did come from my loins) but he's very good with Macromedia Flash.

At the moment we're both very busy with starting a web-developement business venture, so it's quite exciting but very, very time-consuming. We hope to go live by March 2006 and be thousand-aires by 2010 :-)

My mum is now out of hospital and is recovering and I will speak to you next week.

Al - 4th December 2005

Typical isn't it? The moment that I try to dedicate just one day a week to Comics UK, other things start to happen around me. This week I've had to deal with the real serious matter of my mum being admitted to hospital with a serious breathing disorder. Not a welcome event but which I'm pleased to say is being fought well by the woman that used to read all my comics before I got the chance to in my early days - bless 'er!!

I've also been very busy with setting up my own business ('cos I'm not having any luck with getting a real job) as well as developing a couple of websites. These events will also lead in to the coming week, so the next Comics UK update is now scheduled for next weekend (3rd-4th Dec). Apologies to one and all - especially those awaiting an Email reply

Al - 28th November 2005

The first real update for almost half a year has taken place with the uploading and year verification of some Bobby Bear annuals, along with some images for the Gallery. Many thanks go out to Stuart Manley from Barter Books for sending me a spreadsheet with confirmations of most of the Annual dates for those Bobby Bear annuals.

I was a little bit busy this weekend 'cos my eldest son Tom got married....and a good time was had by all.

They'll be more updates to follow throughout this week (hopefully).

Al - 14th November 2005

Hello everyone. I just thought I'd write a few lines to let you know that I am still alive, even though I haven't added anything to the site for the past 5 months.

I am heavily involved in setting up my own business at the moment, as well as starting out on a training course that will return me to working-class status. Something which I haven't been for over a year now. If it wasn't for my hard-working wife and the few dribs and drabs my website building brings in, I dread to think were I'd be now.

However, that's no real excuse for not updating the site occasionally, but sometimes these other things, like self-preservation, seem to take prominence. SO, from this day forward, I will attempt to update the site with something at least once a week, most probably at the weekends - even if it's just one image of an annual.

As I have mentioned on previous messages, I want to completely revamp the site and I do have ideas, on paper, about what is going to be included. This will naturally take a long time to complete but it won't 'arf look good when it's finished. They'll be lots of Macromedia Flash pages and it will be built around an SQL database for speedy access. I intend to start work on this over the Christmas period and will just hope that my workload by then will allow me to complete it. A major feature will be a far better Page-By-Page section, which I really think will be a fantastic source of comics information, when completed. I will also be able to control the content on the Forum a little bit better!

A new book about British comics has been released, entitled The Ultimate Book Of British Comcis, by Graham Kibble-White, which gives very nice overviews about all the British comics that have been released since 1937 - i.e. The Dandy. It isn't heavily illustrated and doesn't give dates of when stories started and ended, or too much about the writers and artists. But it is nice to read about purely British comics, the top stories contained there-in and how each comic (bar four) finally ended. It even includes the few Marvel publications which Mr Kibble-White just glosses over. It's a pleasant little read and it's a book which I would like to have written myself, but alas I wasn't asked :-(

An interesting comic was released a couple of weeks ago in South Africa, about real life heroes. The first person to have their life-story told via a comic is, naturally enough, Nelson Mandela. It is being well received by everyone over there, so maybe it's not a bad comic idea to adopt over here. The subject doesn't have to be political, just anyone who's been famous or infamous. There are so many people to choose from, from the world of sport, entertainment, crime, war, business, it could run on forever. Churchill, Hitler, Joan of Arc, Chaplin, Da Vinci, Norman Wisdom, Beatles, Elvis, George Best?!? What an excellent read they'll make. Mix these strips with a new adventure comic story in the traditional 3-4 pages mode, and it might be a modest hit.

Well, that's it from me until next weekend.

Al - 7th November 2005

Well, long time no speak. As you may be aware from previous posts within this section I have been seeking employment for nearly a year now and have only been picking up dribs and drabs. I'm currently working on a two-phase website project which has massively increased my SQL developement skills. It will also be a nice thing to place in my port-folio and use these newly acquired skills in the next version of Comics UK. I'll place a link to the new site in this section once phase one has been completed - it's a huge step up (in technical skills) from good ol' Comics UK, which now means that I have to rebuild Comics UK (my first ever website) from scratch.

On a comics front, I will like to thank all the comlimentary Emails that come through to me about the site, and how much comics played a part in peoples childhood as well as calling be "crazy" for attempting something like the Page-By-Page section. I've got so many ideas buzzing around my head it's getting very frustrating that I can only write then down and do nothing about it, and I do have some new plans for that Page-By-Page section.

It was good to hear that Scott Goodall was honoured in the recent Queens birthdays honours list and is now an MBE. He received it, "....for services to the history of the Second World War" and not for his years of work in comics, but congratulations all the same. Nice one Scott.

Sylvia Reed has written a piece for the site on the Schoolgirl comic and will be sending in more scans as soon as she repairs her scanner. Thanks Sylvia.

Also a mention to contributor Ken Hutley who has sent me a plethora of articles on his artist friend John Armstrong, who worked on the girls comics Tammy and Misty during 1974-84. This will be uploaded to the site as soon as I finish work on that project which is currently occupying my life right now.

Well, that's all for now. Thank you for keeping the forum lively, there are some excellent topics being discussed there and I do venture in there once or twice a day.

Al - 19th July 2005

As you may know, I've been struggling to get a job for the past 8 months now and am still looking. However, I have recently got involved in a project that might lead to a more financially rewarding future (but I'm not counting my chickens yet).

This has obviously meant that the thing I love most (after the missus of course) Comics UK, has not seen many updates recently. But thankfully, you guys (and gals now) seem to be carrying on using the forum and discussing some very interesting topics, of which I'm grateful.

Believe me, once I get a job, there'll be so much happening with Comics UK, you won't know what's hit you, especially the site revamp.

Thank you for all your eMails of support, images and information. They really are very much appreciated and help me keep my sanity as the 'Search For A Job' continues.

Al - 23rd May 2005

I have finally got rid of my very troublesome PC and bought another one (on tick) which is working splendidly. No more blue-screens-of-death, no constant disk reformats and no loss of data. 'tis heaven. But if I don't get a job soon, I might be kissing it goodbye :o(

I am extremely busy at the moment with an Internet project that might, just might, lead to greener (as in money) pastures. It has been taking up my every waking moment, which has meant that Comics UK has been temporarily placed to one side for the moment. But not forgotten, just a time-out.

In fact, I am currently putting together an interview with the writer, for 11 years, of Captain Hurricane, the Steel Claw and Kelly's Eye and many, many others, Scott Goodall. I've also received a nice overview from a lady in Australia about the girl's story paper from the 1930's. The Schoolgirl.

Did you notice all those new covers in the gallery of the 1946-1949 one-off comics. Very difficult to get find and Steve Taylor, from the www.dandare.info website, has given me scans of loads of them. Thank you very much Steve.

The good news for Comics UK about that project that I'm working on is that it's SQL based, and my SQL knowledge is coming along in leaps and bounds. So this bodes well for when I start working with SQL on Comics UK.

Ah well, back to the grind of trying to get a job, and when I do, Comics UK will be updated on a much more regular basis once the 'complete-overhaul' has been completed. But that's another story.

Al - 28th April 2005

It's been a case of the dreaded blue screen of death again I'm afraid. To cut a very long, and familiar, story short, I have had to reformat my hard disk 4 times during the past week - all to no avail.

I think the problems I've been having with my PC are hardware related and in particular, the motherboard. I have now dug out an old 'trusty' motherboard, and built up another PC around it. It appears to have done the trick, but for how long, I don't know. I've been here too many times to think it's going to last.

I am writing this entry at 04:08 (GMT) on Monday 4th April 2005 and simply haven't had the chance to upload some excellent old 1940's images from Steve Taylor, but I will over the next couple of days.

On the job front, still no joy although there are a few bits-on-the-side that could lead somewhere.

I hope you all had a 'nice' weekend too.

Al - 4th April 2005

Well, I've finally finished reading about SQL and from tomorrow I will be working on trying to construct a massive database setup that will replace every single database within Comics UK. The Forum details will be well looked after, don't worry about that.

The ideas behind the revamp, apart from adding to my port-folio, are many fold. The forum will be given a more up-to-date feel about it. The current setup was my first venture into databases and it's lasted quite well. The new one will include usernames and passwords with the possibilty of chat-rooms and all the other niceities that are associated with the modern Forum. I'm aware that these can be purchased or downloaded from the web, but I want to build my own (for now anyway!).

The Page-By-Page section will be completely revamped, even easier to use and much faster to complete. There will be another shout going out to the existing contributors and newbies. More about that as the time gets nearer. Also, the Family Tree, Annuals, Specials, Comics and Gallery sections will be much better interlinked. There will be a vastly improved Search Engine within the site and each individual section as well.

I also intend to finally include the 'How Much' section. Which will be a constantly updated Auction-Watch, detailing prices that have been paid on the Online-Auction sites. Namely eBay (of course), Vault Auctions and Comic Book Postal Auctions. This section was envisaged from day one of Comics UK, but never got a sniff of actually happening, until now.

As you can tell, I've got great plans for the future of Comics UK and hopefully when completed, they will improve my own chances of rejoining the work force of Great Britain. I don't think I've bitten off more than I can chew, but it will be a massive learning curve for me. I've got no idea when it will finally be completed, but rest-assured, I'll be working on it now from dawn 'til dusk (except when live football is on the box). Gawd 'elp me, I might even restart the quiz section again (that's another database).

In the meantime, I will keep putting up new images when I can and adding bits and pieces, but I'm sure you'll understand that if I wasn't in my current position, Comics UK would be updated with much more beefier updates on a much regular basis. Still, these are trying times and that's exactly what I'm doing.

OK, database world here I come! Now, how do you spell S.Q.L. again............................?

Al - 24th March 2005